Sweden's Handelsbanken Fonder is being probed by the country's regulator, Finansinspektionen, because of the way it has handled the selling and reporting of its Scania shares to Volvo.

Volvo approached Handelsbanken Fonder in January 1999 with an offer to buy the firm's Scania stock. Both parties agreed and came to an understanding that, if Volvo were to bid publicly for Scania within a year, it would pay Handelsbanken Fonder the difference in the share price, according to Håkan Klahr, head of the securities department at the regulator in Stockholm.